Healthy Snacks and Lunches Your Kids Will Eat!

We all want our kids to eat healthy & well but how do we make that happen when
life is crazy busy. You can take it in steps. Look for best quality of food items,
Annie’s organic fruit snacks instead of other brands. Be aware it’s a process and
remember to be patient. My son would never eat salads. I started with putting one
spinach leaf on his plate and asked him to eat that one leaf before he has seconds
of other things. He fought me a few times but after realizing it would be there every
day. He ate it. Then next week there was two leafs. So over a summer we worked
on that. Now he picks spinach as a veggie of choice and eats a heaping pile of it

Last year, before school started, we sat down with my son wrote out all the foods
that he likes that would be easy to pack. The list wasn’t that long and his lunches
didn’t change much over the year. But, having the list (on the refrigerator) was a
great tool for both of us throughout the year. I could point to the list and say “but
raw spinach is on the list” and that would diffuse any complaining about green
things being packed for lunch.

What’s on the list this year? Here are the “my kid”-approved foods that I’m allowed
to pack for lunches and snacks:

Veggies
Carrots
Celery
Cucumber
Steamed Green Beans
Steamed Broccoli
Raw Spinach
Jicama
Sweet Potato Chip

Fruit
Apple
Grapes
Pear
Asian Pear
Blueberries
Strawberries
Cherries (pitted)
Blackberries
Mango
Banana

Fats
Black Olives
Pecans
Brazil nuts
Cashews
Almonds
Sunflower Seeds
Raw, grass-fed Cheese
Grass-fed or Coconut Milk Yogurt

Proteins
Grass-fed Hotdog
Grass-fed Bologna
Hard boiled eggs
Leftover roast chicken or pork
Chicken fingers
Pastured Ham

Treats
Homemade date squares
Larabars
Cliff Kit bars
Steve’s PaleoKrunch Cereal
Steve’s PaleoKrunch Bars
Homemade muffins
Homemade cookies
Fruit Leather
Clif Fruit Ropes
Freeze-Dried Mango
Annie’s Fruit Snacks

For snack or lunches. Consider doing less volume of your cookies, crackers and
add in a few fruits, meats or veggies and good fats. And slowly transition them.
Get them involved some how, have them pick out a new fruit or veggie to try at the
grocery store. Or maybe they can help you prep food or pack lunch in the kitchen.
I have seen the joy of growing a garden and desire to eat what they grew. I am
not a gardener. I don’t have the time, space or desire right now. But taking the
family to the farmers market and talking about it makes a difference for us.
Pinterest has tons of great ideas too.

Written by: Malia Weinhagen from WholeBodyCoaching.com